by Valley Gadfly | Apr 29, 2014 | Valley Gadfly
Spring In Full Swing
After a winter that wouldn’t quit, we were eager for spring to get into full swing and for the Colorado Rockies to take another swing at the grand tradition of baseball. Fans did rise and shine to start the new season filling Coors Field to 97.5 percent of capacity for the Club’s 20th home opener at 20th and Blake.
After this winter small things feel like luxuries, even a hot dog at Coors Field. Humphrey Bogart once said, “a hot dog at the ballpark is better than steak at the Ritz.”
Here are our choices for shopping, dining and entertainment to get you into the swing of things so you will be a hit at home and on the town whatever your game plan:
3 Expect lots of dreams to fly over the fence during the Mini Maker Faire at the National Western Complex May 3-4. Inventors and do-it yourselfers display out-of-the-box ideas to catch your attention, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Information: 303-704-7876.
3 You’ll score a home run for Project Angel Heart by attending the Art For Life fundraiser May 9 at the Abend Gallery, 6:30 p.m. Information: 303-407-9420.
3 Comedian Shayna Ferm steps into the batter’s box to entertain moms at the Pump & Dump Mother’s Day Show May 10. The raucous evening of comedy is a three-inning show at the Holiday Event Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. Information: 303-668-8700.
3 Score big and head for home with a fairly traded Bunyaad rug during Ten Thousand Villages Oriental Rug Event at Augustana Lutheran Church, May 14-17. Strike a deal on intricate floral and hand-spun dye wool tribals. Information: 303-316-8773.
3 Dig for home plate after scoring on sale of Master Gardener vegetables, flowers & herbs at Harvard Gulch Park May 17-18, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Information: 720-913-5270.
3 You’ll score big with mom by taking her and the family to enjoy the Mother’s Day Brunch Buffet at the Inn at Cherry Creek, May 11. Information: 303-377-8577.
3 Cover all the bases by exploring options and opportunities for self-employment at the Un-Job Fair at Colorado Free University’s Lowry campus May 31. A lineup of self-employment experts will help you reach the big leagues. Information: 303-399-0093.
3 Swing into the game of life by attending this year’s Colorado Corks & Cuisine fundraising event at Four Mile Historic Park on May 22 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. You’ll be at the top of your game as you sip on Colorado’s premier libations while enjoying savory and sweet vittles. Enjoy views of the old west with friends and neighbors while also supporting the mission of Four Mile Park. Information: 720-865-0815.
Eating a stadium dog certainly isn’t a dining experience any more than baseball is something other than entertainment. Nevertheless it is worth noting that hot dogs stir impassioned feelings among fans at Coors Field where baseball buffs consume some 1.5 million of them each season, second only to those Dodger Dogs at LA’s Chavez Ravine.
Everyday things, be they simple, affordable, or sublime take just a little time and attention to make you a hit, even if it is a perfectly ripe tomato sprinkled with sea salt.
A simple daisy can bunt you into scoring position as easily as a dozen perfect roses. But neither is a joy if they are poorly pulled together in an unattractive container. No matter what the blossom or baseball pitch the runner won’t score without care and selection. Life will always throw you curves but when the right pitch comes be prepared to run the bases. Get out the rye bread and mustard grandma; it’s Grand Salami time!
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.
by Mark Smiley | Apr 29, 2014 | Feature Story Middle Left
It Is Time To Unfriend Facebook
What happened? I was such a Facebook fan. There was the “courting stage” where I migrated my social media life from MySpace to Facebook. With Facebook, I was just happy to open up a user’s page without music blasting over my laptop speakers. So long MySpace. Then, it was the “I can’t believe who I can connect with” stage as I re-connected with friends from childhood. Next, was the “let’s share how cool my life is” stage. Now, as I have gotten older, I have realized how uncool I really am. My life isn’t at all so interesting that I need to share a daily update.
I travel a bunch. As I spent a whole 45 seconds staring at the wall in an airport restroom, I found myself reading a few of the wall scribes. Of course, my initial thought was, “Who carries a Sharpie?” Then I realized, the posts on the bathroom wall weren’t any more amusing nor interesting than those on Facebook. Ugh! It hit me. I’ve lost hours of my life reading Facebook posts! I realized, there is a new stage, “Time to unfriend Facebook!” Luckily, I came to my senses and began to use the Paper app for Facebook. It’s Facebook in a newer, fresher view. Unfortunately, most of the posts I read are boring still.
If I do use Facebook, I generally use the check-in feature. It amazes me that I find someone to meet at my check-in location or city. It truly is a small world. A new feature, Nearby Friends, was released by Facebook. It is an opt-in only feature, which is a nice perk and should address privacy issues. We used Find My Friends while at Disney World, so this type of feature can be a beneficial tool. Another app alternative, Klutch, allows for a group of contacts to decide where to meet and when. This can replace the five emails it often takes to request a meeting time and location.
I’m a productivity app junkie. If there is one that will make my work and personal life more organized, I’ll try it. Microsoft Office has turned my iPad into an actual workable tablet. Microsoft released Excel, Word and PowerPoint for iPad and iPhone. They lack a few features that you should expect to receive with your desktop, however the apps are a great way to reduce the need of carrying around your laptop. One drawback is that it does not integrate with Dropbox. Speaking of Dropbox, they released a new app, Carousel, which manages photos. You’ll need to monitor the amount of your available Dropbox storage, but it should be an alternative to Picasa. One key feature is the easy way to share a volume of photos with other folks.
I hurt my back handing Mrs. App’s laptop cord to her the other day. OK, I didn’t hurt my back, but it is a heavy cord. Dart launched a new cord, which is light and compatible with Mac and most laptops. This is a great item to Google for travelers. It is available for $79 on Kickstarter. It may be best to set aside the rest of May to apologize for what you’re going to do this Cinco de Mayo.
Do you have a favorite app you’d like to share? Contact Brian at brian@brianzabroski.com, on Twitter @BrianZab or LinkedIn at www.linkedin .com/in/brianzab.
Brian has focused on helping technology companies grow their businesses for nearly 20 years. He currently serves as the Director of Channel Management for a cloud-based software business, which specializes in network monitoring, phone system usage analytics and mobile device analytics. Simply put, if your business’ network, phone system and corporate cell phones are slow, have issues and are expensive, then his software reduces and eliminates these challenges. The software is resold through an international channel of technology partners. He travels across North America educating technology companies how they can increase their business value nearly five-fold through his hybrid managed service selling technique.
by Mark Smiley | Apr 29, 2014 | Main Articles
by Mark Smiley
The municipal election set for April 1, 2014, in the City of Glendale was cancelled due to the exact amount of candidates vying for four open council seats. Paula Bovo and Dario Ka
tardzic were re-elected and will each serve four year terms. Doris Rigoni and Joseph Giglio were newly elected to the City Council. They replaced Ricky King and Pat Opper who each served eight years on the council and were term limited. Rigoni will serve until 2018 and Giglio’s term will end in 2016.
Doris Rigoni has been active in Glendale, serving as Planning Commissioner for the past two years, and is passionate about the redevelopment of Glendale. Ms. Rigoni is an Assistant Vice President for Mile High Banks Commercial Real Estate. She specializes in commercial real estate loan origination, special asset restructuring, and disposition. Prior to her time at the bank, she spent 10 years in commercial real estate on the title/due diligence side of transactions. Her early career was in the public sector working directly for Colorado Governor Bill Owens in the Economic Development Community and for the Denver International Airport Partnership.
Rigoni graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, holds her Colorado real estate broker’s license, is a past Board Member for the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), and is currently active with the local NAIOP Chapter, sitting as the Membership Chair. Rigoni says she doesn’t have any specific plans for her four-year term but rather wants to listen to her constituents. “It is less about what I would like to see happen and more about what the citizens want to see 
happen,” said Rigoni.
Joseph Giglio has been a Glendale resident since 2001 and has served on the Planning Commission since 2012. Giglio is President and CEO of Oncology Trials Insights, a Colorado company that works with drug developers, research institutions, and patients to improve the speed and effectiveness of oncology research. Previously, he served as President for Accrual Solutions, a Denver-based patient accrual management firm.
Giglio is originally from Rochester, New York. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Buffalo and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Rochester.
by Mark Smiley | Apr 29, 2014 | Glendale City News
May 17 At Infinity Park
by Scott Krieger|
Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale
On Saturday May 17 at 3 p.m. the Glendale Raptors will battle it out in all likelihood against strong rival San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club (SFGG) for the championship of the newly formed
Pacific Rugby Premiership (PRP). The new league is composed of seven top clubs in Denver and the West Coast and is considered to have a lot of the top rugby teams in the nation. But the disbandment of the rugby Super League and then the Elite Cup has resulted in there being no national championship this year containing all the top teams in the country. It is hoped that an Atlantic Rugby Premiership can be formed so all the top teams will vie for a national title next year, but there are no assurances that the same will occur.
In the meantime the Raptor-SFGG match is creating great anticipation. Glendale is on top of the PRP standing with only one loss but that loss was to SFGG out in San Francisco by the score of 31-26 in a seesaw match. A second regularly scheduled match between the clubs is set for for May 3, in Glendale ending the 14 week regular season of the PRP.
The PRP is set up to be a pipeline for the USA Eagles. In years past in the Super League, the level of competition varied to the point that many matches were decided by a large point margin. The PRP, more selective with its members, has reduced that component of the game and funneled both a great amount of talent and pointed coaching into each match, every week.
The premiership is still in the early stages of its existence, and plans to keep growing. It is already looking to integrate a new member, Park City Haggis, next season.
“The PRP has definitely proven to be the highest level of competition,” Glendale captain and seven-time Team USA member Zach Fenoglio said. “Hopefully the PRP has learned from the things that made the Super League great and will only lead to more success and higher competition for years to come.”
The seven clubs that make up the league already have a rich history in the development of the sport in the western United States, and ideally the PRP will only further that and continue the growth of the game.
Olympic Club traces its incredible roots back over 100 years to its founding in 1908. That year, they competed against teams from Stanford, California, and the University of Pacific. Not long after, they began an international search for more demanding competition. In 1913 they played a vaunted New Zealand club, and although they took the loss, it was much more of a match than even the USA National team put up against the All Blacks. In the 1960s, when most western rugby teams were just being formed, O-Club was reaching their peak of dominance, both domestically and overseas. The club has continued both touring and attracting new talent for the last 30 years. This season has fallen short of expectations, as the team is in seventh place with a record of 2-7.
Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) began playing rugby in 1954, initially only to satisfy the desire for organized competition. In 1966, team members were granted a petition to be sponsored in San Diego, and set off down the road of competitive play. Later in the 1960s, San Diego State graduates flocked to the club, instilling a new level of talent and athleticism. OMBAC was the first team to win both the 15s and 7s National Championships, and have done so many times over. The club took the full-side championships in 1988, ’89, ’91, ’93, ’94 and ’96, and continue to compete with the highest level of rugby clubs in the country. OMBAC is 4-3-1 and in fifth place in the standings.
Known around Southern California as Belmont Shore Rugby Club, the club was originally formed in 1964 as the Long Beach Rugby Club. Original founders were comprised mostly of Long Beach State football players as well as members of the United States Coast Guard. The team first started thriving in the ’80s, evolving then to be known as Belmont Shore. It was around this time they began to attract international talent and truly grew into a powerhouse. Belmont won its first National Championship in 1998, beating New York Old Blue. They used this as a springboard as they entered a decade of dominance, which has continued into their inception into the PRP. Shore is in third place in the PRP this year with a record of 5-4.
Founded a few short years after Belmont, the Denver Barbarians came to be in 1967. The first major post-collegiate rugby club in the region, the Barbos were initially formed by a collection of ex-college ruggers as well as lacrosse players in search of new competition. The club really did serve as pioneers for professional rugby in the region, as by the spring of 1968 three more teams had formed with more on the way. Denver won the National Championship in 1990 and has been competing at high levels both in 15s and 7s ever since. The Barbarians have fallen to fourth place this season after two recent losses to Glendale.
The early 1970s witnessed the birth of yet another powerhouse rugby club. Santa Monica Rugby Club was established in 1972 by graduates and rugby players of surrounding schools like UCLA and USC. The team found success almost immediately, traveling to a number of National Championships over the years, and taking home the title in both 2005 and 2006. Currently, they occupy sixth place in the league.
1988 brought forth the birth of San Francisco Golden Gate after the merger of two Division II teams, Barbary Coast and the Castaways. Throughout the ’90s, the team was a staple in the Final Four, but never captured the National Title. Over the years, though, SFGG has pumped out numerous players to both the USA Eagles as well as international squads. They have enjoyed sustained success so far this season, and sit in second place in the PRP with a record of 7-2.
Glendale comes in as the new kids on the block. Established in 2007, the Raptors have accomplished much in a short amount of time, serving as a benchmark for the sport and playing in RugbyTown USA. Winning the National Championship in 2011, the Raptors immediately made a name for themselves, and haven’t looked back since. Led by Head Coach Andre Snyman, the club sits atop the PRP standings with a record of 8-1.
Three games remain before the finals at Infinity Park. The Raptors have vastly outperformed expectations thus far this season, displaying premier rugby week after week in their chase for a title. They will travel to California to play the next two matches, before returning home for the final week’s match on May 3. “I want to keep the players focused and mentally sound by not burning them out with information overload but instead remaining cool, calm, and collected,” Snyman said.
On a current six-game win streak, the Raptors hope to ride their success through the next three weeks and give the city of Glendale a hometown team to cheer for in the finals at Infinity Park.
